Sense8 Episode 7: ‘WWN Double D?’

Sun is transferred to prison, Nomi hacks the heck outta the horrible doctor who tried to butcher her brain. Daniela’s horrible ex-boyfriend comes to visit and discovers Lito’s secret. Riley goes home to Iceland to visit her dad (Kristján Kristjánsson) who is as awesome at being a dad as Amanita is at being a girlfriend. Wolfgang and Kala adorably crush on each other before Wolfgang’s life implodes (Felix, we will miss you and your penchant for fancy shoes). Will investigates Angelica’s death (remember Darryl Hannah, who died in episode one for no reason we understand?). Capheus is given further awful evidence that the man he is working for in exchange for medicine for his mother, is very, very dangerous.

This episode takes a sudden, violent turn near the end. Nomi has uncovered ugly secrets about the horrible brain doctor and has a brief conversation with Jonas about Whispers, a very bad man who seems hell bent on eradicating the Sensates.

FEMINIST MOMENTS THAT MAKE THE EPISODE

Sun’s new prison is apparently a misandrist paradise. Sun is warmly welcomed by her cellmates because they believe she tried to financially ruin and humiliate her father and brother. Every one of her cellmates is incarcerated because they murdered a “bad man” which is universal shorthand for “abusive monster,” which they reveal to Sun during a tea party.

“Time was a source of terror. But in here, every moment spent free of that man is a gift,” one woman says. Another cellmate, imprisoned because she pushed her father’s wheelchair down an elevator shaft with him still in it says: “In this country, sometimes the only place you can find a brave and honest woman is in prison.”

For the first time in the series Sun, who has been solitary and self-possessed, relaxes in the presence of other women. Unlike other members of her cluster, Sun has no loving friend or relative. Her closest relationship is with her kickboxing trainer but theirs is not exactly a warm and fuzzy relationship. Apart from brief conversations with other Sensates, Sun has been alone and unsupported until this scene. It is exceptionally glorious for her to find herself surrounded by women who have stood up to patriarchal tyranny and one hopes that their bravery will inspire Sun to stand up for herself.

Nomi’s old friend, whom she hasn’t seen since before her transition, is super excited to see “a new, hot, version of you” and gives her the worst kind of misogynist ‘compliment’ by saying that he would totally bang her, but not in a “degrading” way. Nomi shrugs off his bumbling but Amanita is utterly unimpressed by this dude who dead names her girlfriend and then hits on her. This short scene is quite complex in its social interactions and a gently nuanced commentary on how to be a good ally to trans folks.

“What would Nancy Drew do?” Nomi and Amanita say simultaneously and adorably when they decide to break into the brain doctor’s apartment like the very hottest dynamic crime fighting duo in existence, to which we say: “spin-off, spin-off, spin-off!” It’s easy to imagine their storyline as completely separate from the rest of the series and Amanita’s love of “costume opportunities” begs for her to be transformed into a full-fledged superhero. Plus, in this episode she fearlessly defends her Nomi with a mallet and mace, in case you forgot that she is the best girlfriend ever.

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